Saturday, December 9
Rochester, Mich. / OU Credit Union O'rena
2 p.m.
Central Michigan University
1-6,0-0MAC
76
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79
Oakland
4-4,0-2Horizon
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Central Mich.
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Oakland
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Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
Women's Basketball Starts Strong, Falls Late to Oakland, 76-79
12/9/2023 6:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Central Michigan Women's Basketball was unable to ward off a late push from Oakland on the Golden Grizzlies' home court on Saturday as the Chippewas fell, 79-76.
The Chippewas held an advantage for a majority of the contest, but Oakland scored 26 fourth-quarter points on 61.5% shooting. The final score represented the Golden Grizzlies' largest lead of the day, while CMU led for about 84% of the game. Coach Kristin Haynie believes the team can learn from this experience, especially with a handful of younger players on the roster.
"(Today) can be used as a teaching point," she said. "For us (coaches and the team). We're definitely playing better. Being up 20, we need to be able to close games out. But we saw growth in this team today, and we will continue to fight and get better. But with a short bench, our girls played their guts out and we did a really good job of staying together and trying to fight until the end."
Haynie noted that the Chippewas' options off the bench were limited with only eight players on Saturday. As a result, seven of eight players logged 20+ minutes, and three played for at least 30 minutes.
While it's a tall task to keep eight players fully energized for a full 40 minutes, Haynie is working through different rotations to optimize her options.
"With the short bench, we have to do a better job of subbing a little bit sooner, so we have a little bit more fresh legs towards the end of the game given our short bench" Haynie said. "I used my timeouts throughout the game to give them breaks, so we only had one near the end. I wish I could have 24 timeouts. But we have to work with who we have, and we just have to get some of our players out a little sooner so we're fresh towards the end."
The Chippewas managed to jump out to an early lead, holding a 14-2 advantage after the first five minutes of play. Accompanied by their quick start offensively was a strong defensive effort, as they forced Oakland to 0-for-7 shooting during their initial run.
CMU followed up its impressive defensive effort against Indiana State last week, despite having fallen to the Sycamores, with another one in this contest. No player from Oakland had a shooting percentage above 50 on the night, while the team shot 32% overall.
The Chippewas took advantage of the misses they were forcing, as three players from CMU registered double-digit rebounds and the team pulled down 53 total.
"We've definitely been talking about getting better defensively and rebounding," Haynie said. "Defending and rebounding wins games, so we've been focusing more on that. Switching our defenses from man to zone has been keeping teams out of their rhythm as well. So the players have been locked in and have been doing a good job. We're getting better defensively every game."
However, for as well as the Chippewas played defensively, they struggled to bring the same pressure on the offensive side at times. CMU turned the ball over 30 times, which led to 23 Oakland points off of turnovers.
Leading the way for the Chippewas offensively were graduate center Rochelle Norris and junior guard Tiana Timpe, who each chipped in 17 points. Norris made eight of her 10 shots from the floor, while Timpe did her damage via the three-point line, making four of her nine three pointers.
Norris also hauled in a team-high 12 rebounds, which was tied with graduate forward Nadège Jean. This marked a season high for Norris, as well as a career high for Jean.
CMU returns to action next Sunday (Dec. 17), as the Chippewas travel to East Lansing to do battle with Michigan State at the Breslin Center. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET.
The Chippewas held an advantage for a majority of the contest, but Oakland scored 26 fourth-quarter points on 61.5% shooting. The final score represented the Golden Grizzlies' largest lead of the day, while CMU led for about 84% of the game. Coach Kristin Haynie believes the team can learn from this experience, especially with a handful of younger players on the roster.
"(Today) can be used as a teaching point," she said. "For us (coaches and the team). We're definitely playing better. Being up 20, we need to be able to close games out. But we saw growth in this team today, and we will continue to fight and get better. But with a short bench, our girls played their guts out and we did a really good job of staying together and trying to fight until the end."
Haynie noted that the Chippewas' options off the bench were limited with only eight players on Saturday. As a result, seven of eight players logged 20+ minutes, and three played for at least 30 minutes.
While it's a tall task to keep eight players fully energized for a full 40 minutes, Haynie is working through different rotations to optimize her options.
"With the short bench, we have to do a better job of subbing a little bit sooner, so we have a little bit more fresh legs towards the end of the game given our short bench" Haynie said. "I used my timeouts throughout the game to give them breaks, so we only had one near the end. I wish I could have 24 timeouts. But we have to work with who we have, and we just have to get some of our players out a little sooner so we're fresh towards the end."
The Chippewas managed to jump out to an early lead, holding a 14-2 advantage after the first five minutes of play. Accompanied by their quick start offensively was a strong defensive effort, as they forced Oakland to 0-for-7 shooting during their initial run.
CMU followed up its impressive defensive effort against Indiana State last week, despite having fallen to the Sycamores, with another one in this contest. No player from Oakland had a shooting percentage above 50 on the night, while the team shot 32% overall.
The Chippewas took advantage of the misses they were forcing, as three players from CMU registered double-digit rebounds and the team pulled down 53 total.
"We've definitely been talking about getting better defensively and rebounding," Haynie said. "Defending and rebounding wins games, so we've been focusing more on that. Switching our defenses from man to zone has been keeping teams out of their rhythm as well. So the players have been locked in and have been doing a good job. We're getting better defensively every game."
However, for as well as the Chippewas played defensively, they struggled to bring the same pressure on the offensive side at times. CMU turned the ball over 30 times, which led to 23 Oakland points off of turnovers.
Leading the way for the Chippewas offensively were graduate center Rochelle Norris and junior guard Tiana Timpe, who each chipped in 17 points. Norris made eight of her 10 shots from the floor, while Timpe did her damage via the three-point line, making four of her nine three pointers.
Norris also hauled in a team-high 12 rebounds, which was tied with graduate forward Nadège Jean. This marked a season high for Norris, as well as a career high for Jean.
CMU returns to action next Sunday (Dec. 17), as the Chippewas travel to East Lansing to do battle with Michigan State at the Breslin Center. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET.
Team Stats
CMU
Oak
FG%
.484
.320
3FG%
.300
.333
FT%
.667
.667
RB
53
29
TO
30
9
STL
4
18
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
1
Pts
17
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
C
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